Some software programs that provide access to database objects may be used to manage human resources records of an organization, such as a database of all employees. A user of such a program can access a database object representing a certain employee and review or edit data relating to the employee. Such objects are often identified by an employee identification number assigned by the organization.
Multi-national organizations have employees in several different countries and may need record management programs that handle employee records for more than one country. The nature of relevant employee data can also depend on the country where the employee is stationed. U.S. employees, for example, likely have Social Security numbers (SSN) that the organization may want to store as part of the employees' respective database objects. The program may allow access to a U.S. employee's SSN by displaying it in a field having the suitable format: NNN-NN-NNNN. Such a field should not be used, however, with employees for whom no SSN will be recorded, such as employees in non-U.S. countries. These employees may, on the other hand, have other country-specific information that the organization wishes to record that does not apply to U.S. employees. In addition, taking specific actions with regard to employees may involve revising or adding different portions of employee data depending on the employee's country. For example, the data recorded when hiring or reassigning an employee may be different in Germany than in the United States.
A program sold as part of the R/3 system manufactured by SAP AG implements country-specific access based on who is accessing the employee record. That is, a person based in the United States who accesses employee records will see each record formatted as if it were a U.S. employee, regardless of what country the employee is actually assigned to. One disadvantage of this approach is that country-specific information about an employee may be invisible if the record is displayed to a user from a different country. Another disadvantage is that it may be difficult to enter country-specific information if the current formatting does not provide input field(s) for it.